by James Phillips Noble
Resource Publications, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Ore. 313 pages
The author has lived a long and varied life in the pastorate and in the early civil rights struggles. This book bears witness to the God who has accompanied him through it all. Noble has gathered up a collection of poems, meditations, treasured quotes, vignettes and brief reflections that have “seeped” into and out of his life. It is as if one is treated here with the deep wisdom that has sustained a man of faith through great accomplishment and personal tragedy. These gifts don’t come easy. “Toward the end of life things change,” he writes, “not suddenly or radically but quietly and slowly.” And he concludes, “there have been mistakes, failures, misjudgments and fallout from conflicts.
We can learn to do what the Apostle Paul advises: Forget the past. And in its place a growing sense of gratitude seeps into our souls.” This is a generous personal memoir with excellent selections from the people who have sustained Noble, including Paul Tillich, Albert Schweitzer and Helmut Thielicke. One who listens to these reflections will be encouraged in the way that one is strengthened by the witness of those who have gone before us.
